How to Write a Good Fanfiction
by dragonstorm24
Summary: This is a guide to writing a good fanfic for people who are new or just don't know how to write a good one.
1. Basics

**An.: I have seen these a lot but most of them stop updating or bash of types of stories. This will be a simple guide that helps make a good story. My other story will be updated by Sunday hopefully.**

_Title_

How many of us just blow of the title and don't even care about it. The title is one of the most important parts of a fanfiction. It is one of the things that separate your fanfiction from others. One of the most important things even if you fail at writing a good title.

**CAPITALIZE IT**

I have skipped so many stories just because the title isn't capitalized. If you can't even write your title right how does make your story look.

_Summary_

I will tell you the worst summary there can be is

"I suck at making summaries"

Why would you write this. I have seen lots of stories that have this and just skip it. I mean come on if you won't even do a quote from inside your book or give us an outline what is in your story why should anyone read it.

Example

Story is about Percy going to High School (Hate this topic so badly but this is an example)

Summary: Sometimes the battles we don't fight are the hardest. Percy is learning that the hard way trying to fit in with other kids at his school. But having dyslexia and adhd makes him a poster child of retards. See his journey through life and how friends can mean everything.

Chaos (Hate this one to)

Summary: To say Percy Jackson was tired of his life would be an understatement. With the fates watching him in every step he failed to catch any type of break. This all changes when the one thing they never thought could happen, happened. Percy is given one last chance on a new life but what are the costs?

I will tell you these two summaries aren't that good but they are better than "I suck at summaries" and "The story is better than it seems".

_Story Content_

You got people to read your story great now here comes the hard part writing the story.

Step 1

Plan your story out. If you want a major event like Gaea gets defeated start a little back so your story can build of something. Don't do a cliche. Sure a cliche will seem all nice but after an idea has been redone by so many people it is worthless. Have your own story that you can feel accomplished about. It may be harder and take more time but copying an overused idea is worthless.

Step 2

Right your story out and make sure to make it have a normal speed. Having a story go too fast is not a good thing. There are times where a story I read story made Percy look bipolar. That is called taking it too fast.

Step 3 Check for ooc

Don't let your characters be ooc.

Examples

Annabeth being weak

Percy being a little kid

Annabeth being a lovestruck girl

Nico as some unfeeling rock

Rachel as a girl crazy for Percy

Artemis as a lovestruck girl

These are things you especially don't want in your story unless Percy is a kid in your story or something like that. When a character is ooc it can turn a great Percy Jackson fanfic into one that you want to throw away.

Step 4 Grammar and Spelling

I will tell you right now that grammar and spelling are the most important thing in a story. Have you seen Starblade175 or Anaklusmos14 make lots of spelling and grammar mistakes. Sure they might have one or two buried underneath great stories but no more than that. Do yourself a favor and type your paper in Google drive if you don't have Microsoft word to use spell check.

**Next update hopefully comes soon.**


	2. Dialogue

**Chapters**

Don't be like a lot of people of fanfiction and make chapters that are barely 500 words. When a chapter is that short even if the story is good you start to lose interest because everything happens over a span of like 10 chapters. Take your time and make chapters around 2k-3k. There is no need to rush when trying to update. It is your story if other people want your story to come out faster why does that matter?

**Reviews**

Don't be that person who drops a story or stops updating because of one person. A good idea is to respond to reviews if they are trying to say something negative about your story.

Example

Alpha-33 you said that you found errors in the first sentences of my story what were they? (seriously I want to know)

**Dialogue**

This is one of my main pet peeves if you have dialogue in your story please use it right.

Example

Annabeth wakes up and heads down to get breakfast. On her way she sees a person walking out of the Poseidon cabin. She heads over and notices that it was Percy and goes to greet him.

"Hi Percy how is it going?" Annabeth asks

"I'm fine," Percy replies

That is how you use dialogue. Every sentence of dialogue is supposed to be it's own paragraph. There are exceptions and all that but half the time all I see a giants clumps of paragraphs in Percy Jackson fanfics and don't even feel like reading it all. I'm not sure about you but since when does anyone like reading giant paragraphs.

**Story Ideas**

I am going to be starting a list of story ideas anyone can use if you can't find a good idea on your own.

Story 1

Percy and Annabeth switch childhoods. Instead of Percy growing up in New York he was the one Luke and Thalia found while Annabeth was the one Grover found.

Story 2

What if Percy stayed on Calypso's island for a longer time. What if the world he comes back to is not the same he left in.

**Sorry about this chapter being shorter but I am wondering what I should put next.**


	3. Pace

**How to write a good twist**

On fanfiction I see so many good ideas go to waste when the writers try to rush it.

Example: Percy Jackson is walking through camp when he sees Annabeth kissing someone. He gets mad and pulls out his sword.

This could be worded so much differently and have a much more detailed meaning

Example. Percy Jackson is walking through the charred camp still being repaired from the battles. His mind drifted to his love who seemed to be less fond of him by the day. Percy did all he could and was nice with her and always went along with her plans. He came to a grinding halt when he saw a familiar blonde on the beach. He tried to keep his temper for a second and tried to use reason in his head "it's not Annabeth" over and over. He kept trying to push reality out of his head but he soon realized it was her. He felt a surge of adrenaline rush through him as an agonizing pain ripped through him. A part of him felt that this was all his fault but his hand grabbed for his sword not letting the fully situation enter his mind. His mind was clouded and all he saw were those two people while the rest of the world washed away.

The second one was worded better and took time to show how Percy was in every step of the way. I will say the second one isn't perfect but most of you can agree the second one takes more time to explain the situation and how it affected Percy. This is an example of slowing down the pace so that it isn't rushed too much.

Flashbacks

Flashback can be a great thing to have in your story to give more depth about a character. But they also can be bad. A good flashback is either short or has a full chapter dedicated to it. Never have a flashback in the middle of another scene longer than a paragraph or else it just gets confusing with the two plots running at the same time.

Character Depth

This is the difference between good oc's and bad ones.

Example

I get up from bed. I look around my room and find the book I was supposed to read for homework.

Example 2

I get up from the warm bed and try pushing the sheets off of me. I open my eyes to the sun blazing through the window. I step out of bed tired on the creaky wood cabin flooring. I lazily move my body towards the book on Basic Fighting Strategies Part 1 that I was supposed to read for homework. On my way I almost trip on the clothes tossed all over the Aphrodite cabin. By the time I open the book my eyes barely stay open while my arms attempt to flip the page.

Look at the two paragraphs and tell me what you learned about the character.

Paragraph 1

She woke up

She didn't do the homework

Paragraph 2

She is not a morning person

She is not a great fighter

How tired she was

She was in a cabin

Having good character depth can make your characters be more realistic. If your characters seem like a Mary Sue then they probably are. The difference is like comparing Harry potter to Mario Bro's. While you know almost everything about Harry Potter the Mario Bro's just do the things they are supposed to. By the way I love Mario games and all but this is just example meant for a comparison.

**Please leave good ideas for me to write about in the reviews. Also expect 2 updates around Thanksgiving for both of my stories.**


	4. The Other Side

The Other Side

I have been mentioning different things writers could do to improve their writing but here is the other side. The reviewers and readers of a story. You probably have read hundreds of different stories but how many of you actually review the story. If the story isn't good then tell them nicely that "it could stand to improve".

Paragraphing

Usually dialogue breaks up your paragraphs for you but if a chapter has low dialogue try to make sure the paragraphs aren't giant monsters. Try to not make your paragraphs more than 5ish sentences depending on how long they are.

Beta

If you know you have problems with your story or need help a beta is never a bad idea. I am now a qualified beta in case anyone wants help with a story. I know that I don't have the best of grammar but I can help with ideas and most grammar and spelling issues.

**I am sorry this is short but I have hit a major wall with my other story and I have absolutely no idea what to do with it so I am trying to get past that**


	5. Major Editing Tommorw

**An.: I know that some of my newer chapters are short and not as good so hopefully on Monday I am merging and redoing the chapters to be more descriptive. Also I am inputting a lot of things you mentioned in the reviews.**

**Pairings**

If you are trying to make a good Percy Jackson story please keep the pairings reasonable. Say you are doing Nico and Thalia then you could have Thalia never join the hunters and a slow relationship. No matter how good your idea for a pairing is no character will ever seem realistic if they go in a relationship in one or two chapters. Make it seem natural and give it time to develop. This one won't have any examples, I am adding that when I redo the chapters tomorrow. Make a pairing seem natural. I have seen stories where Artemis and Percy get together so quickly I drop the story. If you even think that the characters are probably a little too unrealistic with their relationships then they are.


End file.
